General Grievous - TVC - Basic (VC17)

Name: General GrievousCollection: The Vintage Collection Number: VC17Source: Revenge Of The SithAvailability: September 2010License: Hasbro

Hasbro takes two steps forward and sadly one step back with The Vintage Collection General Grievous that was released in the second wave of the line. We think for the most part that the positive outweighs the negative, but it still frustrates us that Hasbro chooses sometimes to do some things the way they do. Underground rumors claim that this was the figure that was to have made its original debut in the Legacy Collection as BD24 before being canceled. And at the time we really didn't understand why he wasn't included in the Build A Droid series. But those close to the industry explain its temporary cancellation was twofold. Both the cape and the newly articulated wrists didn't meet production deadlines in time and was postponed until the upgrades could be completed. That time is now and the results are pretty impressive, although, it seems that new issues have formed. We have yet to receive official confirmation of this from Hasbro themselves on this postponement, but it nonetheless sounds very logical to us. The good news is that there are some absolutely great upgrades made for this release of General Grievous. Hasbro took the ultra popular The Legacy CollectionGeneral Grievous (BD 25) figure and cleaned up the paint job tremendously and included some new articulation in his four wrists and a beautiful soft-goods layered cape (but not the first time we have seen a cape similar to this on a Grievous action figure). This is how you want a General Grievous action figure to look and there are absolutely no complaints there. But if you own the 2008 TLC figure, you are more than aware that the figure was cast from a too-rubbery plastic that made it very difficult to pose the figure as you wanted. Those issues seem to be magnified with the new figure although we estimate that a nearly similar plastic was used for both.

Unbelievably, the updated 2010 General Grievous seems to be cast from an even rubberier plastic (though we’re not too sure about this). This absolutely was the time to cast him in a stronger plastic and we don't know why Hasbro missed the boat. We nearly tossed our sample out of the window while trying to photograph it for our photo gallery (so you really better appreciate those photos) out of aggravation attempting to pose him. It was enough to drive us insane. In our particular sample, his right leg is notably misshapen and no matter what we tried, he always wanted to fall over. The temperature of the room was cool, so the figure should have maintained its form without issue. We chalk all of this up to Hasbro using an inferior plastic. Thin and spindly bodies must be cast from stronger plastics Hasbro! The Legacy Collection version of the figure definitely had too dirty of a paint job throughout its body (yes, now we’re complaining about too much dirt). Hasbro excellently cleaned up the figure to still have weathered and dirtied features without compromising the shade of his organic, creamy white marbled bone portions of his cyborg body. As a bonus, Hasbro worked in swivel wrist joints on all four portions of his arms (actually he has four new sculpted forearms and hand sections). We initially thought this addition was unnecessary, but they actual work well to make those lightsabers stick in his arms much better thanks to the better grips in the hands. We are impressed with the final results. All of the original articulation was carried forward but because of his pliability, it's hard to make all of his points work toward your advantage. If we were to sum up exactly how we feel about the new General Grievous, we would have to say that it is the best decorated Grievous to date and in theory the best articulated version if and only if Hasbro can manage to cast him in a much stronger plastic. As you can probably infer, General Grievous is bittersweet. And we think its quite a shame that the material he is cats from greatly affect how good of an action figure he is.

But perhaps the star in this package is his soft-goods cape. It is beautiful. Two unique layers are sewn together, a "ribbed" outer gray layer complete with a Kaleesh symbol and a satiny red inner layer and fits General Grievous like a glove. We think it is ever so short, but depending upon how you successfully (or unsuccessfully) pose him, this may or may not affect the aesthetics. Two inner pockets (one on each side with four compartments each) are also sewn in and can hold the two lightsaber hilts that come packaged with him perfectly. You can pretty much bet that you'll want to search for extra hilts to fill up all eight pockets with them. (Too bad he only comes with two hilts.) A similar soft-goods cape was made available in the extremely overpriced General Grievous/CB-3D Droid Factory Walmart exclusive set, but that one pales in comparison to this upgraded version. And it brings a whole new level of coolness to this General Grievous action figure. He really does look fantastic. The new paint job has really helped this action figure to a great degree. The head and the collar now match the bone portions of his body and gives him a wholly matching structure. Sometimes it just takes small tweaks like this to make an action figure as good as it can be. While we would love to say that this is the definitive General Grievous, and for all intents and purposes it is, but until Hasbro can give us a figure with a stronger frame, we just can’t called it the ultimate action figure. Certainly Grievous should have come with a cape back in 2008, but hey, it's available now and it really completes him. General Grievous is completely welcome in The Vintage Collection. It would be a crime not to get a good version of Grievous into this line. But just note that he could be better and until he does, we will make a case for another update. Just one more time is all we think General Grievous needs, Hasbro!

Collector Notes

General Grievous

Status: General Grievous is a retool and repaint of 2008's TLC General Grievous (BD 25) figure. This time the figure includes an all-new soft-goods cape.